vivdunstan: A vibrantly coloured comic cover image of Peter Capaldi's Doctor, viewed side on, facing to the left, looking thoughtful (twelfth doctor)
Continuing my Peter Capaldi rewatch, and onto another I had very bad memories of. Overall I still found it a disappointing episode, but there was more that I liked this time. The large group of young schoolchildren seemed more palatable, and well-defined individuals, providing good material to watch, and complicating the experiences of the three main leads. Peter Capaldi's Twelfth Doctor seemed to particularly thrive with young Maebh. And it was fun to see the two schoolteachers coping out of the classroom, as well as the challenges of their own relationship.

The first half or so of the story was solid for me, but things fell away after then. Too hand wavy, too vague explanations. I appreciate that a lot of the Steven Moffat era of Doctor Who has a fairytale quality and dreamlike nature. But I think Frank Cottrell-Boyce stretched this too far.

The environmental aspect was refreshing, but still too vaguely handled. And the ending was far, far too predictable for me.

I'd probably skip this on future rewatches, but am pleased that I enjoyed it more this time.

AI moan

Aug. 22nd, 2025 10:15 pm
vivdunstan: Muppet eating a computer (computers)
Getting beyond exasperated with the number of people on forums and groups I'm on, who reply to questions, needing specialist and reliable knowledge to answer, and post a response from ChatGPT. Usually & consistently wrong. Those folk may learn it's not a good source but others later will use it too.

I'm also beyond exasperated by the misuse of generative AI in creative fields, including art, interactive fiction and writing. I'm also an academic whose own academic writings have been used without my permission to train AI, including for Meta. And then there are the environmental costs. Just stop!

My 88-year-old Mum who's never used a computer or smartphone in her life, and never will, also rants about AI. I'm quite impressed that she knows about it and has enough knowledge to have opinions :)

Incidentally I've been using and involved with some forms of AI since the 1980s. But I really really dislike the modern version and where things are going with it.
vivdunstan: Photo of some of my books (books)
A new month, a new bunch of reading books currently on the go. Still reading Wheel of Time book 7 but making excellent progress with it.

vivdunstan: Photo of some of my books (books)
Booking my online streaming Edinburgh Book Festival tickets for this year. I could watch the events live online, but will also have until the end of September to watch them on catchup, which is most likely how I’ll watch. Martin is going to watch the Greta Thunberg talk with me. And yes that is the Icelandic Prime Minister speaking about her crime writing career in another one.

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vivdunstan: Part of own photo taken in local university botanic gardens. Tree trunks rise atmospherically, throwing shadows from the sun on the ground. (Default)
vivdunstan

May 2026

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